Device for manufacturing pile products



E. LUTHY DEVICE FOR MANUFACTURING FILE PRODUCTS Filed Janf 6, 1964 2Sheets-Sheet 1 Get. 17, 19%? E. LUTHY 3,347,731

DEVICE FOR MANUFACTURING PILE PRODUCTS Filed Jan. 6, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet2 United States Patent 3,347,731 DEVICE FUR MANUFACTURING FILE PRODUCTSErich Liithy, Naarden, Netherlands, assignor to Tapr tfabrielr NoordsterN.V., Loosdrecht, Netherlands, a limited-liability company of theNetherlands Fiied Jan. 6, 1964, Ser. No. 335,788 Claims priority,application Netherlands, Jan. 10, 1963, 287,626 6 Claims. (Cl. 156-435)The present invention relates to a device for manufacturing pileproducts, in which the pile forming material, such as a series ofmutually parallel threads are folded in a zig-zag fashion by insertionbetween blades which are provided on the circumference of a continuouslyrotating drum, after which at least the folds are fixed in or onto acontinuous backing.

Such an arrangement is known and when the insertion means has left theblades, the drum continues rotating, and the inserted material remainsin the shape of a loop and is unprotected against a non-controlledpulling force of the material supplied. There is therefore a greatdanger that the loops of said material are pulled completely orpartially out of the space between two blades thereby creating a greatirregularity in the pile material. The pulling away tendency can be theconsequence of tension differences which may be caused, for example, byvariation in the sizes of the yarn cops, badly filled cross-woundbobbins, knobs or knots in the threads etc.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a device in whichthe loops of the pile material, after they have been inserted betweentwo blades by the inserting means, are carried to the position of fixingfree from relief means, such as pile wires and without tension betweensaid blades.

In the known device the inserting means moves with the continuouslyrotating drum, this however, takes place in such a way that the insertedloops are chafed on the edges of the blades because during the rotationthe angular position of said inserting means relative to the bladesvaries.

In order to overcome this objection in the device according to theinvention, there are provided means for causing oscillating angularmovement of the inserting means coaxially of the drum over the pitch ofthe blades, means for clamping coaxially to the drum by means of a firstclamping means, two adjacent folds of the pile material onto the edgesof the blades adjacent to, and as seen in the direction of the movementof the drum, behind the insert ing means during the movement thereof,and means for clamping coaxially of the drum by means of a secondclamping means of the pile material supplied onto the edges of theblades which are present, as seen in the direction of movement of thedrum, in front of the inserting means, after the inserting means hasreached its extreme inserting position and until said first clampingmeans has taken its new operating position on the two following bladeedges over which the pile material are placed. In the attached drawingsan embodiment of a portion of the device according to the invention isillustrated by way of example.

FIG. 1 shows diagrammatically and in side view a first position of thedevice according to the invention.

FIG. 2 shows the device in a position that follows the position of FIG.1.

FIG. 3 shows the device in the position of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 shows the device in position of FIG. 3 and that FIG. 1.

In the drawing, the drum 20 is provided with radial view a position thatfollows a position that follows the precedes the position of 3,347,731Patented Get. 1?, 1967 blades 1-15, between which the loops ing material22 are positioned. The pile forming material is supplied, from a reel(not shown) and from which said material is drawn with a predeterminedtension.

Said tension is highly dependent on the kind of winding, the quantity ofyarns on the cops or bobbins, the type of yarn etc. The drum 2t)continuously rotates in the direction of the arrow A. Inserting means inthe form of a blade 23 has the same width as the blades 1-15 on thecircumference of the drum 20. Blades 23 moves up and down radially fromaxis 24 of the drum 20. The up and down movement of the blade 23 iseffected by means of a cam 25 and a spring 26. The assembly of blade 23,cam 25, and spring 26 is supported in a first supporting means 27 whichcan oscillate about the axis 24 of the drum 20. The oscillating motionof means 27 is effected by a cam 28 and a spring 29 acting on saidsupport 27. Hereby it is possible that the inserting means 23 can causeaccurate insertion of the pile forming material 22 between the twoblades 5 and 6 in the shape of loops 21.

When the inserting means 23 is inserted into the space between twoadjacent blades (blades 5 and 6 as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3) there is thedanger that the previously inserted loop 22 is completely or partiallywithdrawn from the foregoing space. In order to prevent this, there isprovided a first clamping means 30 having a foot member 31 spanning thespace between two adjacent blades (blades 4 and 5 in FIGS. 1 and 2) andresting on the top edges of two blades on which lie the two adjacentfolds of the pile material.

Said first clamping means 3% with its foot member 31 is moved up anddown by means of a cam 32 and a spring 33. The arrangement of elements36), 31, 32, 33 also is supported by the first supporting means 27.

In order to insure that after the removal of the inserting means 23 fromthe space between twoblades, the formed loops are not withdrawn again bythe tension in the threads supplied from the supply means, a secondclamping means 34 having a foot member 35 is provided. Said secondclamping means 34 can be moved up and down by means of a cam 36 and aspring 37. Said foot member 35 spans the space between two adjacentblades (blades 11, 12 in FIG. 1) and can rest on the top edges of saidtwo blades on which the pile material lies. The assembly of elements 34,35, 36, 37 is supported in a second supporting means 38 that canoscillate about the axis 24 of the drum 20. This oscillating movement iseffected by means of a cam 39 and a spring 41 The clamping means 30 aswell as the clamping means 34 are always directed towards the axis 24 ofthe drum 20 during operation.

The above described device operates as follows:

The clamping means 30, the inserting means 23 and the clamping means 34,are driven in the direction of movement of the drum 20 so that nochafing or shifting or tension creating forces are applied to thethreads 21.

Furthermore the clamping means 30 and 34 move in their operativepositions during advance of the drum 20 over a pitch distance of theblades with the exception of the period in which the inserting means 23carries out its insertion action, because at that moment the secondclamping means 34 is not operative and therefore the threads 22, fromwhich the loops 21 are formed are withdrawn from the supply.

In FIG. 1 the clamping means 30 presses the loops already made "betweenthe blades 4 and 5 and then as shown in FIG. 2, the inserting means 23enters between blades 5, 6, the clamping means 30 still holding theloops made between the blades 4 and 5 in order to prevent removaltherefrom. All the means above mentioned move in the direction of thearrow A with the drum 20.

21 of the pile form- The formation of loops between the blades and 6 cantake place freely, however, because the clamping means 34 releases thesupply of the threads 22. This clamping means 34 moves in the directionof arrow B over the distance between two adjacent blades 11 and 12 andthen returns to a position between the next two adjacent blades 12. and13. After the loops between the blades 5 and 6 are formed (FIG. 3) theinserting means 23 withdraws and the clamping means 30 moves out ofcontact with the threads (FIG. 4) and retracts in the direction of thearrow D. The clamping means 34, however, clamps the threads 22 againstthe blades 11, 12 so that the pulling action on the threads 22 by thesupply will not withdraw the loops just made from between the blades 5and 6. The clamping means 34 moves with the drum '29 in the direction ofthe arrow C. The loops21 made by the inserting means 23 are therefore,formed accurately between the blades, and are not subjected to anytension. The loops are fixed subsequently by a device known per se andnot drawn with their folds at the edges of the blades into or on acontinuous backing.

What is claimed is:

1. A device for the manufacture of a pile product comprising a rotatabledrum, uniformly spaced radial blades mounted on the drum at theperiphery thereof, for receiving pile material in the form of tensionedmutually parallel threads which are fed circumferentially over theblades, inserting means mounted outside said drum for reciprocal radialmovement for entering the spaces between adjacent blades to form loopsin the threads extending thereon and draw the material from a supplythereof, first clamping means for acting on the blades bounding thespace ahead of the space in which the inserting means is inserted toclamp the threads against such blades and prevent disturbance of theloops formed therein, and second clamping means for acting on a pair ofblades behind the inserting means to clamp the threads against suchblades after each formation of loops in a space and when the insertionmeans has been removed from between the blades to prevent windback ofthe material to the supply thereof, and means supporting the insertingmeans for oscillating circumferential movement about an axis coincidentwith the axis of the drum over a distance equal to the spacing betweenadjacent blades in synchronism with the rotation 4 of the drum to enableoperation of the inserting means While the drum is rotating.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein said means supporting theinserting means comprises a support member mounted for pivotal movementabout the axis of the drum, said inserting means and first clampingmeans being mounted on said support member for respective reciprocalmovement.

3. A device as claimed in claim 2 comprising drive means mounted on thesupport member for radially reciprocating the inserting means and drivemeans for radially reciprocating the first clamping means also mountedon the support member.

4. A device as claimed in claim 3 comprising a second support membermounted for pivotal movement about the axis of the drum, said secondclamping means being mounted on said second support member and drivemeans mounted on the second support member for radially reciprocatingthe second clamping means.

5. A device as claimed in claim 2 comprising means engaging the firstsupport member to oscillate the same over a distance equal to thespacing between adjacent blades.

6. A device as claimed in claim 4 comprising means engaging the secondsupport member to oscillate the same over a distance equal to thespacing between adjacent blades.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,822,509 9/1931 Smith l565901,822,510 9/1931 Smith 156435 2,685,910 8/1954 Frederick 1565902,793,674 5/1957 Reinhard.

3,060,072 10/1962 Parlin et a1. l5672 3,127,293 3/ 1964 Trenteseaux156-72 3,157,554 11/1964 Beasley l56435 3,173,823 3/1965 Guinard 156435EARL M. BERGERT, Primary Examiner.

ALEXANDER WYMAN, Examiner.

R. H. CRISS, I. P. MELOCH'E, Assistant Examiners.

1. A DEVICE FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF A PILE PRODUCT COMPRISING A ROTATABLEDRUM, UNIFORMLY SPACED RADIAL BLADES MOUNTED ON THE DRUM AT THEPERIPHERY THEREOF, OR RECEIVING PILE MATERIAL IN THE FORM OF TENSIONEDMUTUALLY PARALLEL THREADS WHICH AR FED CIRCUMFERENTIALLY OVER THEBLADES, INSERTING MEANS MOUNTED OUTSIDE SAID DRUM FOR RECIPROCAL RADIALMOVEMENT FOR ENTERING THE SPACES BETWEEN ADJACENT BLADES TO FORM LOOPSIN THE THREADS EXTENDING THEREON AND DRAW THE MATERIAL FROM A SUPPLYTHEREOF, FIRST CLAMPING MEANS FOR ACTING ON THE BLADES BOUNDING THESPACE AHEAD OF THE SPACE IN WHICH THE INSERTING MEANS IS INSERTED TOCLAMP THE THREADS AGAINST SUCH BLADES AND PREVENT DISTURBANCE OF THELOOPS FORMED THEREIN, AND SECOND CLAMPING MEANS FOR ACTING ON A PAIR OFBLADES BEHIND THE INSERTING MEANS TO CLAMP THE THREADS AGAINST SUCHBLADES AFTER EACH FORMATION OF LOOPS IN A SPACE AND WHEN THE